


Video Games for the Soul

by AdmantCrow



Category: Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Banjo-Kazooie - Freeform, Content tailored for me, F/F, Falling In Love, Gaming, Hajime is a jerk, Human Nanami Chiaki, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mario Party, Minor Tsumiki Mikan/Mioda Ibuki, No Despair, Nostalgia, Romance, Sleepovers, Wholesomeness, but only sort of, made this for fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-14 13:03:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13590612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdmantCrow/pseuds/AdmantCrow
Summary: Chiaki invites a bunch of her friends over to play Mario Party. Fuyuhiko and Hajime bicker and tease each other, Sonia fights to control her rather large crush on Chiaki, and Mikan cheers on the agent of chaos that Ibuki becomes whilst playing.





	1. Mario Party Chaos

**Author's Note:**

> In this chapter, Fuyuhiko suffers from Hajime's playful teasing, and fights to succeed in the game of his childhood.

“Hey, hey, so who’s in to play tonight.” Chiaki asked the other five teenagers sprawled across her dorm room. It was Saturday night at Hope’s Peak, and Chiaki had invited some of her friends to hang out in her dorm room. And, as it always were when Chiaki was involved, the topic turned to playing video games.  
“Oh!! Oh!! Ibuki is!” The loud-mouthed musician practically leapt from Chiaki’s bed, coming to a stop in front of the TV.  
“I-I think I’ll pass tonight. It’s m-more fun to watch for m-me, anyway.” Mikan murmured, tucking her legs against her chest, looking rather dejected about Ibuki’s attention being stolen by the offer of games.  
“I would be honoured to match wits with you, Chiaki!” Sonia smiled, kneeling in front of the TV, making sure she got a spot next to her best friend. “I have been honing my skills and will not roll over in defeat!”  
“I spent my entire lunch break getting dunked at video games. Most lunch breaks, for that matter.” Hajime said jokingly, seated on the couch, his arm wrapped around Fuyuhiko’s shoulders, who was leaning lightly against him. “I think I’ll pass for tonight and see someone else lose.” He grinned at his partner as Chiaki frowned, turning to the baby-faced Yakuza who was very much trying to avoid both of their gazes.  
“Fuyuhiko, we need four players. Party games aren’t as fun when you have a computer in the mix!” Fuyuhiko grunted in response, crossing his arms.  
“G-Games aren’t really my thing. I only play them really occasionally when I’m visiting home, when I feel like destroying someone’s ass at a game.” This made Hajime raise his eyebrows and grin at the Ultimate.  
“Really? Then what do you call what we did for half the night last week?” The other four teenagers all immediately stared at the two young men, Hajime realising how much he had poorly worded his sentence.  
“WHICH ONE!?” Ibuki half screamed, Mikan looking petrified behind her.  
“WE WERE…” Fuyuhiko half shouted. “…We were playing video games, all right? JUST.” He glared at Hajime, knifes practically flying out of his eyes. “VIDEO GAMES, YOU BASTARD.” He whispered through clenched teeth. Resigning himself to Chiaki’s stare, he finally nodded. “Fuck it, fine, I’m in. What the hell are we going to play, anyway?” 

“OH! OH!” Ibuki waved her hands in the air to get Chiaki’s attention. “Ibuki wants to play Mario Party!” Sonia glanced at her friend with a quizzical look on her face.  
“What is a ‘Mario party’?” Chiaki lent in close to Sonia, causing the princess to grow flustered in the face of Chiaki’s sudden excitement.  
“It’s the greatest party game series ever made! They’ve made over 10 instalments ever since the original on the Nintendo 64, and sure the last couple haven’t been as great, but each and every one of them have something- “  
“For the love of fuck, can we just pick one? I’d rather play then just listen to ‘The Mario Party Story’ for an hour.” Fuyuhiko groaned, used to Chiaki’s gaming-related rants. Chiaki made a pouty face and scuttled over to her game cabinets, trying to find what to play.  
“Fuyuhiko! Chiaki was pouring her love for this esteemed series out of her heart, it is quite rude to have made her cease!” Sonia scolded the young Yakuza.  
“He’s got a point, Sonia.” Hajime said, causing to Sonia make a disappointed noise. “With all been subjected to Chiaki’s love of gaming rants. They’re fun and all, but we’ll be here all night if you let her go on.” Noises of agreement came from Mikan and Ibuki.

In the end, Chiaki pulled out her copy of the original Mario Party, saying something about the original being a friendly pick for the new players. Hajime snickered as Fuyuhiko’s eyes lit up as Chiaki withdrew her Nintendo 64 from her cabinets.  
“Feeling nostalgic, buddy?” Fuyuhiko made a rude gesture at his partner that made Mikan squeak in surprise.  
“Oi, I had a Nintendo like this back in the day! Even I’m allowed to feel nostalgic, you- “  
“Too loud.” Chiaki mumbled as she plugged in controllers and switched on the game, setting it up for the other three players.  
“Good luck.” Hajime whispered to Fuyuhiko, patting him on the shoulder, receiving a glare in response – turned away from the others, it was very clear that the young gangster was pretty enamoured with the idea of playing Mario Party again after so many years.  
“Cheer for me, Mikan!” Ibuki yelled a bit too loudly. Mikan giggled at her girlfriend’s radiant positivity, cheering quietly in her own way from the bed.  
“I look forward to matching my skills against yours, rival!” Sonia glared comedically at Chiaki, who had pulled her cat hood over her light hair.  
“Yeah. I hope you end up loving it as much as I do!” Chiaki smiled at Sonia broadly, making the princess’s heart flutter.

As the character select screen came up, Fuyuhiko immediately selected Yoshi before anyone else could get to them, leading to groans from Ibuki and a drawn out ‘hmmm’ from Chiaki.  
“Awwwww, Fuyu!! I wanted to play as my dino-boy!” Fuyuhiko smugly grinned at the singer, waving the controller in the air in spite.  
“Ain’t no one taking him from me now! First come, first served!”  
“It’s funny how popular Yoshi is.” Hajime mused from the couch. “Popular with musicians, gamers, normal people like me… even hardened folk like Fuyuhiko!”  
“Fuck you!”  
“Enough, please.” Sonia calmly stated, trying to defuse the situation. “In any case, I shall pick the thin moustached man. I feel his lean physique will come in handy.” Chiaki had automatically picked Donkey Kong, as if it was ingrained in her to always choose him. When questioned she simply said:  
“He has the best fashion sense. Look at his tie.” Hajime and Fuyuhiko roared with laughter at her deadpan remark. Ibuki eventually settled on Wario (for his ‘aesthetic value’, when questioned by Mikan), Chiaki choose the Yoshi Island stage and the game finally began, choosing a 30-turn game for a good balance of length. 

After the first couple of turns, it became clear this was a battle for 2nd place, rather then 1st. Chiaki, from the moment the first minigame began, was clearly in another league to the rest of them/ Fuyuhiko wasted no time boasting about the amount of times he’d beaten his sister at rounds of Mario Party as a child, declaring that he’d mop to the other two girls up and take 2nd place flawlessly with his ‘master plan’. And for the first couple of turns, all of this seemed to be going to plan – He won the occasional mini-game, made good progress on coins and heading for one of Toad’s Stars, his cockiness being backed up by his performance.  
It wasn’t long before life started throwing a flurry of curveballs at his ‘master plan’. Sonia and Ibuki were continually landing on ‘?’ tiles, causing the minigames to turn into 2v2 matches and luck would just have it that Sonia was almost always being placed on Chiaki’s side, leaving Fuyuhiko with Ibuki.  
“W-Well, ‘s not all bad, you suggested Mario Party, so you must be good at all this, right?” Fuyuhiko asked Ibuki, as if he was trying to comfort himself.  
“Ooooh, yeah! Ibuki used to play Mario Party aaaaallll the time. Never got higher than 4th place.”  
“The fuck!?”  
“Don’t worry, Fuyuhiko!” Hajime dropped to his knees, putting his hands on both of his partner’s shoulders, causing him to jerk wildly to shrug him off. “Let my support guide you to at-least-not-4th-place!” Fuyuhiko swore and told him to get back on the couch, but his flushed cheeks told everyone he was happy with the mixed support.

It didn’t really help that much, in the end. Ibuki was awful at Mario Party, dragging down Fuyuhiko’s attempts to hold 2nd place, losing nearly every 2v2 match. Before even the 10th turn had passed, Sonia had passed him in coins AND a Star, the blond princess pumping fist in the air as she did so.  
“Maybe you’re also a talented gamer, Sonia.” Chiaki mumble as she moved on her turn.  
“W-Well, I never had access to such a wonderous medium as a child, but now…” She threw her arms around Chiaki as she waited for her turn. “I found a true master of the art!” Chiaki barely reacted to the hug, simply rocking back and forth as she finished her turn.  
“Why can’t you be good at video games!?” Fuyuhiko complained to Ibuki, who just laughed at him for no real reason, Mikan giggling as well, which simply served to enrage the pint-sized teenager further.

Slowly, he clawed his way back into 2nd place, inch by inch. He miraculously managed to win on a couple of minigames, most notably Mushroom Mix-Up (which he somewhat awkwardly claimed was his favourite), and he found himself exceeding Sonia’s star count, still notably behind Chiaki.  
“You may have passed me for now, Fuyuhiko, but you shall taste my posterior before the night is out!” Sonia suddenly declared as she was passed in the rankings, drawing stares from nearly everyone in the room, sans Chiaki who seemed almost… proud by her comment?  
From the couch, Hajime wondered if Chiaki had been playing online games with Sonia as well, since recently Sonia had been ‘trash-talking’ during competitive moments, and by ‘trash-talking’, hilariously inaccurate comments such as that.  
As Fuyuhiko’s comeback continued, despite Sonia still not being far behind due to her early game luck, Hajime found himself drawn further into his viewing of the game – soon enough, as the 20 turn mark passed, he found himself kneeling besides his boyfriend, cheering him on as he managed to win the odd minigame from Chiaki. Fuyuhiko’s normally foul front had been replaced by a rather pure expression as he worked hard to solidify his lead.  
“What do ya think, star or go and see Boo?” Fuyuhiko asked Hajime.  
“You don’t have enough coins yet for a Star, but if you try and get low move rolls, you might be able to get enough by the time you get there.” Fuyuhiko smiled at his partner, leaning gently against him, almost without realising.  
“Good advice, good advice.”

Sonia pouted, frustrated with the loss of her lead over the other two, grumbling some frustrations under her breath.  
“Don’t worry.” Chiaki murmured, not taking her eyes off the screen as she patted her friend on the shoulder. “We still have nine turns left… Mario Party is a game of luck, anything can happen… I mean, look at that.” As Sonia glanced back at the screen, Ibuki had activated Chance Time, drawing a wide stare from Chiaki and a horrified expression from Fuyuhiko. Ibuki, grinning as she now had the power to swing the entire game, hit the boxes that would determine the exchange that would occur.

Fuyuhiko was very happy to see he would lose nor gain anything from Chance Time – he was NOT happy to see Sonia receive 3 of Chiaki’s stars, cementing HER as 1st place now. Hajime, a moment ago supportive of his boyfriend’s chances of pulling ahead, was practically rolling on his back laughing hysterically, stopping short of making Fuyuhiko literally shake with rage. On the other hand, Sonia was practically bouncing in place, joyful at her sudden jump to the lead.  
“I-I apologise for taking all of your hard-earned Stars, Chiaki, but I cannot help my enthusiasm!” She gleefully said as the next minigame loaded up. Chiaki just shook her head and smiled earnestly at the princess.  
“I’m only good at the minigames… the rest of the game is just luck, so everyone has a shot at winning. And it lets everyone have a great time… That’s why Mario Party is the perfect game to play with friends…” She lent forward to look at Ibuki and Fuyuhiko. Ibuki was still hysterically laughing at the chaos she had enacted for the other plays, and Fuyuhiko was stewing in his own rage – but the amount of fun he was having with the others was plain for all to see, regardless.  
Chiaki had been so far ahead, she still had a star over Fuyuhiko, so with his partner’s urging, Fuyuhiko gave it his all to surpass her and come out of this game somewhat ahead. As the turns ticked down and the game reached its climax, Fuyuhiko managed to get lucky and secure two more stars, bringing him a star ahead of Chiaki, Sonia still far ahead of everyone else with Chiaki’s stolen stars. As the final minigame ended, Fuyuhiko pumped his fist in the air, grabbing Hajime around the shoulder in a pure joy rarely seen from the tiny gangster.  
“Tis a shame, soul sister…” Sonia moped, patting Chiaki on the leg. “It would have been truly wonderous for us to have taken the top two positions!” Chiaki simply looked at her with a somewhat cheeky smile, nodding her head to the screen as the two young teenagers celebrated behind them.

“Y-You’re being awfully loud, Hajime, F-Fuyuhiko…” Mikan stammered from the bed. “I-Ibuki I’m sorry you couldn’t get out of fourth place…” Ibuki just laughed loudly and made her way back to the bed as the ending cutscenes began to play, seemingly unconcerned.  
“I don’t mind at all!” She chirped. “I upset the entire outcome chaotically! Ibuki simply upset the balance of the universe!” And just like the nutcase she was, she began to laugh hysterically again, Mikan becoming infected with her laughter as well.

“Uh, Fuyuhiko?” Hajime looked away from his still-celebrating partner to look at the game screen, the character beginning to talk about ‘bonus stars’. “Y-You might want to look at this.” Fuyuhiko took one look at the screen and shrugged, his cocky grin still etched on to his young features.  
“Ain’t a problem.” He said. “I don’t think the extra stars can swing the competition anymore.” Hajime snickered, making Fuyuhiko narrow his eyes at him.  
“What?” Hajime gestured to the screen, making the Yakuza raise his eyebrows and to look at the screen.  
The first Bonus Star, for the player winning the most minigames, went to Chiaki, which surprised no one, bringing her one star behind Fuyuhiko.  
“I guess that’s the one big advantage I have in this game.” Chiaki yawned. “I always get the Minigame Star, so I always have a leg-up.”  
“Your performances on many of the minigames were stupendous! You must teach me how you became so proficient with so many games.” Sonia beamed at her best friend, making Chiaki shrug and gesture to the screen again.

The second Bonus Star, for going on the most ‘?’ squares, went to Sonia, simply furthering her rather notable lead.  
“Aaaaawh.” Ibuki complained from the bed. “Ibuki was hoping she’d get at least one of the Bonuses!”  
“You’re an agent of chaos, Ibuki, it’s amazing you didn’t get the bonus star.” Hajime noted, his eyes fixed on Fuyuhiko’s rather nervous expression. “You ‘doin okay, Mr. 2nd Place?” Fuyuhiko glared daggers at him for a moment before looking back at the screen.  
“Comeoncomeoncoeoncomeoncomeon” The Ultimate Yakuza mumbled under his breath over and over again as the Third Bonus Star was about to come up.

And as it went to Chiaki, for having the highest Coin Count, pushing her into 2nd place due to having more coins and the same amount of stars as Fuyuhiko, he didn’t swear, he didn’t complain, he just slumped back and just shook his head gently.  
“Goddamn it.” He murmured, smiling despite his despair. The other five members of the group, sans Chiaki, lent forward to see his reaction. “Good game, guys. That… brought a lot of nice memories back.” No one smiled more broadly, despite not even looking at him, then Chiaki, who seemed almost overjoyed at his positive reaction to the result.  
“And that’s why games like Mario Party are so special…” She murmured as she clicked through to the ending cutscene.

Of course, Hajime couldn’t not take the chance to make fun of his boyfriend in such a situation.  
“Well, Mr 2nd Place” Hajime murmured, clambering out of his spot to squat (and by squat, he was basically touching the ground to stoop to Fuyuhiko’s level) next to his partner. “You gave it your best shot, gave it your all.” Fuyuhiko glanced at his boyfriend, knowing something was coming. “But I just wanted to let you know… I’m glad I found someone worse at Mario Party then me, my little Yoshi-loving friend.” In the end, it wasn’t his teasing rant that made Fuyuhiko crack – it was the rather firm pat on the end that made him turn to Hajime with fire in his eyes, his infamous grin spreading across his face.  
The whole time, the other four members of the group stared on in silence – except for Chiaki, who was casually going through her stats in Mario Party. Fuyuhiko slowly began to grin at Hajime, who was very aware that he had made a huge mistake. Slowly, Fuyuhiko got to his feet, grabbing Hajime’s shoulder very firmly, despite being nearly a head shorter than his partner.  
“I think. We’ll retire to. Bed, now, I think, asshole.” He said very shortly, clearly gripping Hajime’s shoulder more firmly. “Chiaki, thanks for a fun night, I’m keen for ‘nother, whenever.” He genuinely smiled at the others, a peek at the rather innocent youth that lay beneath his hardened shell.  
“Y-Yes, it’s getting pretty late, I’ll see you at lunch Chi-“ Before he could even finish, Fuyuhiko had dragged him to the door, giving everyone one last wave, before dragging his partner out of the room.

“Thank you for gaming tonight.” Everyone was completely silent, the only noises the tapping of Chiaki on the controller and her murmured thank you, despite the two having already have left. Sonia giggled to herself at how detached Chiaki could get from reality at times like this.  
“H-Hopefully Fuyuhiko is gentle in taking H-Hajime back to the Reserve Course dorms.” Mikan squeaked innocently, finally breaking the silence. Sonia and Ibuki exchanged conflicted looks, not sure if they should break the news to Mikan.  
“Mikan, I do not thi- “Sonia began to actually answer honestly before she was cut off by Ibuki altogether.  
“Fuyuhiko absolutely will take Hajime back to his room!” She declared, wrapping her arms affectionately around Mikan, causing her to giggle loudly. “We’ve all seen how they get all cuddly and lovey-dovey when they think no one else is around, so Fuyuhiko will treat Hajime like his love on his wedding night!”  
Mikan giggled and leaned against Ibuki, seemingly satisfied with her answer.  
“Isn’t a wedding night… very similar to what’s probably occurring right now?” Sonia thought to herself, deigning to keep that to herself. “Treat him kindly, Fuyuhiko.”  
“On a related note!” Ibuki declared loudly, standing once more. “It is the hour of the demons, and I have a gig tomorrow!” Yawning loudly, Ibuki reached out a hand to help Mikan up. “Shall Ibuki take you home, Mikan?” Hearts practically sprouted out of Mikan’s eyes as she nodded almost cartoonish-like.  
“G-Good night, everyone! Thank you for a-a really fun night! W-We should get together I-in my room sometime!” Sonia nodded, smiling warmly at the meek nurse.  
“Ibuki, we should play Mario Party 2 next time we get together!” Chiaki excitedly stated.  
“Yeeeeeah! We can see me fail through the ages!” Ibuki laughed hysterically at her own lack of skill. “For now, CIAO, y’all!” Without even asking Mikan, she simply swept her girlfriend of her feet and carried her out of the room, Mikan squeaking another goodbye as the two disappeared. 

And now, the room was silent once more, Sonia sitting in silence as Chiaki tapped away at the N64 controller with that little smile on her face. A look at the clock told it was nearing midnight and already the excitement of the match had made her quite exhausted. Either way; Chiaki was too engrossed in what she was doing to pay any attention to her – that was just like her, no malice in her ignorance. Just a pure love for video games that drowned out the world around her. The way her eyes grew so focused, the little smile that slowly grew only when playing one of her favourites. Sonia thought of the hours she had simply watched Chiaki throw herself at game after game and was content in just seeing the wholesome joy that exuded from her. She always wanted to love something the way Chiaki loved her video game -and recently, as she spent more and more nights with Chiaki, watching and playing video games with her; she might have found something.

How many hours Sonia had stared at that adorable face, it’s owner completely unaware, selfishly wishing that expression was reserved for only herself…

“C-Chiaki.” Sonia said suddenly, feeling the need for solitude, her face flushing red even at these thoughts. “I-It is quite late, I really should- “She clumsily got to her feet, turning towards the door, but was stopped by a gentle tugging of her jacket. Chiaki had stopped playing, grabbing at her jacket to stop Sonia’s retreat from the room.  
“Hey, hey, Banjo-Kazooie?” Chiaki murmured, Sonia narrowed her eyes, confused with the strange phrase, averting her eyes from her friend.  
“S-Sorry, Chiaki?”  
“Do you want to keep going in your playthrough?” Her eyes were practically sparkling, yearning to share her love of the medium with her closest friend. Sonia gripped her skirt, her conflicted feelings towards her friend both telling her to stay and leave at the same time.  
“Chi…Chiaki, I’m sorry, but- “Chiaki, however, had zoned out and was looking at the clock.  
“Hmm…” She rumbled. “I guess… it is pretty late.” She pulled her cat hood over her head for a few moments, as she always did when she needed to concentrate. “Oh! It’s a Saturday! You could stay here, and we can have a gaming sleepover!” Again, Chiaki’s eyes had lit up like the night sky at her own suggestion, like a kid in a candy store, leaning in close to Sonia out of excitement.  
“Erm, well, that is to say…” Sonia started to grow more flustered, Chiaki’s proximity absolutely not helping the situation. Her best friend’s features were so clear, her bright eyes and soft lips inches from her own face. Fearing her heart was going to leap out of her chest like a chest burster from her favourite film, Sonia took a step backwards, surprising Chiaki.

“V-Very well. I shall partake in your ‘gaming sleepover’, Chiaki!” Chiaki beamed back at her, before turning to her cabinets to extract Banjo-Kazooie from it’s depth. Sonia collapsed on to the couch, Chiaki’s expression etched into her brain, making her wonder why she ever thought of refusing such an alluring offer.  
“Feel free to use my bed, if you eventually need to sleep.” The way she said eventually implied Sonia wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight. “…It’s pretty big, so we can both take a nap on it in the morning, anyway.” She added, rather innocently.

Sonia coughed rather loudly to obscure the rather odd noise she made, hoping Chiaki didn't see the colour of scarlet her face was flushing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonia and Chiaki hold an all-nighter dedicated to Banjo-Kazooie. Sonia admits to the feelings growing inside her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a tonal change here, but that more comes from going from six characters to just two. Enjoy!

“It’s been a few days…” Chiaki murmured, settling down on her cushion. “Do you remember where we were at?” Sonia tilted her head slightly in response, trying to remember the weirdly named level she’d reached in their last session.

“Bubble...Gum Bog?” Sonia guessed, feeling like that was correct. “It was that, wasn’t it?” Chiaki stared at her deadpan for a few moments, before giggling to herself a little.  
“Close… I think. Bubblegloop Swamp was the one, since you finished up Mumbo’s Mountain.” She giggled to herself again, making Sonia pout. “Bubblegum Bog sounds fun too, though.”  
“It is not politie to laugh at someone who isn’t so well versed in gaming!” Sonia declared, before turning into her own fit of giggling at how silly the name was anyway.  
  
It was now well past 1am - Sonia had retreated a few doors down to her own dorm room to retrieve some snacks and her pajamas for her night with Chiaki. Creeping quietly back through the hall since _technically_ people weren’t meant to share rooms under any circumstances (Even though it was an open secret that Mikan practically lived in Ibuki’s room), she made her way back into Chiaki’s room. Her best friend had already changed into her pajamas (little more than an old Yoshi shirt and shorts) and Sonia was confronted with the fact of just how _cute_ she looked right now - she hadn’t even noticed that Sonia had come in, simply digging through her cabinets for the game they were to play, grinning from ear to ear. So radiant was her expression that Sonia legitimately worried that her heart was going to escape from her body and go on the run from the law.  
  
 _“It’s going to be a long night.”_ Sonia thought to herself, watching as Chiaki withdrew her game. _“But… that isn’t going to be a bad thing.”_  
  
And now, surrounded with potato chips, blankets and each other, the two girls played Banjo-Kazooie long into the night.  In the art of video games, Sonia found Chiaki to be a versatile teacher. She would never just flat out tell her the solution to a challenge, rather give her the tools needed to overcome it herself. She never got frustrated at Sonia admittedly poor skills at her games, in fact her expression as she watched was the opposite; seeing Sonia grow as a gamer and fall in love with the medium so much like her seemed to make her happier than pretty much anything else in the world. Even on the occasions when Chiaki was hit by days of anxiety or just feeling bad, simply having Sonia come over and play a game with her was enough to pull her out.  
  
“...Technically you could do Clanker’s Cavern first.” Chiaki continued as Sonia made her way to the next level. “But honestly it’s my least favourite level. It has its own charms, but I’ve never been a fan on dinghy sewer levels.”   
“In all of my favourite movies, the sewer scenes are always the most exciting!” Sonia exclaimed, slowly remembering the location of the next area.   
“I haven’t seen that many movies recently...I think.” Chiaki murmured, her eyes locked on the screen.  
“Oh, we must go together, sometime!” Sonia glanced over at Chiaki, grinning. “I’ve made a habit of seeing a movie every few weeks, you must come on my next excursion!” Of course, she expected Chiaki to decline - movies weren’t her thing, the one time they’d watched a film together she’d been constantly fidgety - but that was over a year ago.  
“...Sure!” Chiaki replied mutely. “I’d love to come.” Sonia stopped playing for a moment to stare at her - _she actually wanted to come?_   
“Sonia?” Chiaki addressed her. “You’re almost there, the entrance is just there!” Sonia shook her head a little to clear her mind, nodding at her instructions.

“Right!” At least she had a new thing to look forward to - but for now she had a game to conquer!   
  
They didn’t really talk much when they played games - most of their dialogue came from Sonia’s various comments on Chiaki’s games, usually resulting in some unintentionally hilarious comments from Chiaki.   
“...Why does Banjo only wear his backpack and shorts, but not a shirt?” Sonia questioned as the game’s antagonist, Grunty, made a similar comment on Banjo’s attire.   
“...” Chiaki finished stuffing a small pile of potato chips into her mouth before responding. “He’d look a lot less fashionable with a shirt. I like to think Kazooie is very critical of Banjo’s fashion, so he has to be careful to pick out a decent outfit.” Sonia giggled to herself - Chiaki’s view made sense, but the amount of thought she seemed to put into such insane scenarios never failed to set her off. “On that note, though.” Chiaki said pointing into her closet, which contained all manner of gaming-related items. “I do own a replica of Banjo’s backpack. I’d wear it to school when I was younger, but kids would pick on me about it.”   
Sonia huffed, annoyed that children would treat her friend so unfairly. “Clearly, they simply don’t understand the fashion appeal your backpack held!” Chiaki nodded excitedly in reply, getting  _ awfully _ close to Sonia’s face.   
“Exactly! And it was big enough to hold  _ everything! _ ” She went on for some time about a related subject, still rather close to Sonia. She couldn’t help but stare at her friend the way her face grew rather pink when she was so pumped about her love of gaming. She just looked so…  _ beautiful  _ when she was in such a mood. Nearly every word of what she said was unintelligible to Sonia, but regardless she kept her face fixated on Chiaki, drinking in all of her enthusiasm. Her heart beat loudly, and Sonia gulped without meaning to.   
As Chiaki finally settled down and Sonia resumed her attempts to grab a rather difficult Jiggy, Chiaki did not withdraw to her cushion - rather, she pulled her cushion closer and lent her body gently against Sonia’s - it’s owner doing all she could not to react in any weird way, despite the scarlet blush upon her face.

 

_ Gods, she was in love with Chiaki, wasn’t she? _

* * *

 

Things settled a bit after that - the two girls laughed and talked and ate long into the night as Sonia worked on clearing the level. When she first started the game, she’d seriously struggled to get her mind around how to control Banjo, and use the insanely designed controller. But now… she understood why Chiaki loved video games so much. They relaxed her after a long day at class, and soothed her when she felt anxious.   
“Chiaki.” Sonia asked as she honed in on her next objective in-game. “Do you have a favourite video game in particular?” Chiaki stopped gnawing on whatever it was she was eating, looking over at her with wide eyes.    
“Um, Sonia…” She murmured, in such a way that made Sonia wonder she’d said the wrong.   
“Y-Yes, my dear?”    
“...” Chiaki shuffled a little closer, leaning against Sonia a little tighter, looking a little embarrassed. “I get a little… animated talking about my favourite games. So… stop me if I go overboard.” Sonia tilted her head and nodded slowly, wondering what she went. Sure, Chiaki got pretty pumped when it came to games, but could it really-   
  
“Obviously my favourite game is Gala Omega, since it was the first one that I really ever played and it’s really special to me, but when it comes to other games I really love a lot of the classics on the N64 like the Mario and Zelda games, oh! A lot of the older JRPGS really appealed to me as well, stuff like Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy V are the kind of stuff I  _ always _ want to be replaying. Though I also really love party games, like Mario Party before, but also stuff like Guitar Hero that are accessible to play with all my friends and everyone always has a good time playing stuff like that. I don’t play them as often but when it comes to shooter games I like stuff like Wolfenstein and, oh, also-”   
  
Sonia sometimes wondered if she should keep a notebook handy to write down the names of all these games Chiaki was describing. Not only so she could keep up with her conversations, but also so she could try some of these experiences that lit such a fire in Chiaki’s heart.   
“ _ Oh blast.”  _ She thought to herself. Even that few seconds of zoning out had passed and now she had no idea what kinds of games Chiaki was talking about.

 

She was so excited to learn so much about such seemingly wonderful experiences.   


* * *

 

  
On the screen, Banjo did a special little dance, signifying that she’d found all the Jiggies on that particular level. She had kept playing, despite Chiaki’s almost rant-like description of her games (Sonia felt she had listested at  _ least _ 100 different titles).   
“Oh, good job!!” Chiaki half cheered, looking rather sleepy from her descriptions. Despite her fatigue, she wrapped an arm around Sonia, who squeaked rather loudly, shaking her in her own form of joy. “I don’t think I even got all the Jiggies on my first run of the game!” Sonia shook her head humbly, smiling from the praise regardless.    
“Oh, no, no. I only achieved so much with your storied guidance!” Chiaki shook her again, Sonia squeaking again.   
“You’re being silly! I only gave you the basics, you’re a natural at collect-a-thons!” Sonia blushed from her crush’s praise, fairly content with having her arm wrapped around her shoulders. When it came down to it, she realised, Chiaki was often fairly touchy-feely with her; nothing inappropriate, but she never acted in such a way with any of the others, even Hajime, who she hung out with on a near-daily basis at lunch.   
  
Chiaki glanced at the clock, noticing that it was nearly 3:30 am now.    
“Time is weird.” She said flatly, making Sonia chuckle. “I don’t feel tired at all, honestly.” Which was weird, to Sonia, as Chiaki honestly looked exhausted.    
“Would you wish to sleep, then, Chiaki?” She really didn’t know why she asked that question - Chiaki shook her head, yawning quietly even as she did so.   
“No, no! It’s still early!”    
_ “In what universe is 3:30 early, besides waking up?”  _ Sonia thought, concealing a snicker. But it wasn’t like she was disagreeing! As if she’d pass a chance to spend more time with someone who made her so happy.   
“I suppose Cavern of Clanker is next!” Sonia declared, again calling the game’s next level by the wrong name. “It was down that sewer pipe before the Bog, correct?” She was focused on the TV, she almost didn’t notice that Chiaki had fallen asleep, kneeling on the cushion, her head tilted forward. Putting the game on pause, Sonia lightly shook the girl still half-wrapped around herself, whispering her name quietly - not expecting the exaggerated response that came.

 

 

Considering the amount of times she had to be woken up at class, Sonia really should've expected this.

“Owah!” Chiaki suddenly jerked awake again, her body briefly spasming, all of her weight pushing against Sonia.    
“C-Chiaki!” In her surprise, she had nothing to support her, and the two girls crashed to the floor, the blond princess landing on her back, Chiaki ending up splayed across her chest, her face now buried in her neck. “A-A-A-Are you okay!?” It felt like her entire body had gone scarlet, becoming very,  _ very _ , aware of Chiaki’s heat and her very...ample chest. But her health was priority and considering her normal demeanor, that was hard to gauge.   
“Neeeeeh.” Chiaki groaned, unintentionally nuzzling against Sonia’s neck, making her made an odd noise. “I’m… okay.” Sonia sighed in relief. Thank god the carpet was pretty thick. Trying to sit up again, Sonia found herself immediately back on the floor, as Chiaki made no attempt to get off of her body.   
“U-Um, Chi-Chiaki?” Sonia gasped, feeling like her mind was on fire. “We should get u-” Chiaki shook her head, rubbing against her neck again. “Maybe we-”   
“You’re too comfy, though, Sonia.” She murmured sleepily into her neck. Sonia’s brain was going a trillion miles a minute, trying to process what exactly was going on. Chiaki made another sleepy noise and placed her hands on Sonia’s shoulders to get more comfortable.    
  


“Chiaki…?” Sonia whispered, feeling like everything was becoming obscured by some kind of haze behind her eyes. Chiaki extracted her face from her neck, looking at her, so close their noses were almost touching.    
“Yeah… Sonia?” Chiaki murmured. Her eyes looked sleepy, but it was clear she was very aware of the situation. But she looked so unfazed, despite being a few centimetres from being buried in her breasts. “What is it?” That little smile that made Sonia so happy came out, as if nothing was amiss in the entire world.   
“I think… I mean, I believe that the best… course of action…” Her face was so close - she looked so soft, so  _ gorgeous _ in every way. Her passion, her attraction to Chiaki had hit the breaking point. And so...   
“...You’d make a beautiful protagonist in an RPG, Sonia.” Chiaki murmured rather flatly, pulling her body closer to Sonia’s. “There aren’t… characters as beautiful as you.” Sonia just stared at her for a few brief seconds, her mouth slightly agape at Chiaki’s somewhat awkward comment.    
  
_ How could she resist  _ _ that  _ _ ultimate compliment? _ __   
__   
__   
Without thinking at all, Sonia simply lent forward and kissed Chiaki, her passions boiling over. Where she thought she’d find resistance, or Chiaki just retreating away, her lips were simply met an almost equal hunger, as this kiss was  _ exactly  _ what Chiaki had been yearning for as well. After one long, wondrous moment, Sonia pulled away, the two girls staring at each other with wide eyes.   
“Chiaki.” Sonia murmured, feeling her heart beating madly. There was no stopping her now, even herself. The words she  _ needed _ to say just came spilling out. “I think I’ve been in love with you, for a very long time.” Chaki looked at her with those big, expressive eyes, and then a adoring smile nestled across her face. She slipped her hands around Sonia’s neck and clutched her in the tightest hug Sonia had ever received in her own life.   
“I… was wondering when we’d reach this event.” Chiaki whispered to her. “After all, it’s been months.” Sonia giggled a bit, but then her expression grew a little confused.   
“Wait, what ever do you mean?” She asked. “Months since when?”   
Chiaki loosened the hug and stared at her, seemingly equally confused.   
“Since we started dating?”   
“Ah, of course.” Sonia replied, the sentence almost going right over her head.   
  
_ Wait. Hang on. What was that? _   
  
“ _ What in tarnation!?” _ Sonia gasped at Chiaki, sitting up finally, the gamer siding off her as she did so. “What do you mean we’ve been dating for months!?” Sonia had gone the colour of fire, her mouth hanging open as she tried to process the night’s rapidly descending madness. Chiaki pulled her arms over her legs, looking at Sonia still confused.   
“A-Aren’t we dating? I-I mean...I thought…” She was tired, and obviously something between the two was confused. Sonia crawled forward a little and put her hands on Chiaki’s knees, stroking them gently.   
“Do not worry. Just tell me what you meant.” She looked embarrassed for a moment. “It, um, won’t change what I said a few moments ago, either way.” Chiaki’s face grew warm, tucking her mouth below her knees.   
“W-Well.” She began. “A-A few months ago was when we started hanging out, right? Everyone liked hanging out, but when w-we hung out, it felt a little… different. All those times we’d have group gaming sessions, like tonight?” Sonia nodded, urging her on. “After the first couple, you’d get really excited about my games and stay after everyone had gone.” She couldn’t see it behind her legs, but Sonia could tell Chiaki was smiling. “You’d always be asking me about all my favourites, and these last months we played so many of them together. And… when I struggled with class, or I had my depressive moments… you’d come by and made sure I was okay. You made me so happy, on the inside. Like… playing my favourite games.. So… I thought…” Chiaki untucked her legs and kneeled towards Sonia, holding her hands gently, as if afraid they would slip away.   
  
“I thought… when two people are together like that, so often and so… w-wonderfully, I just thought… that’s what being in love, and what dating someone was.” She looked back up, finally at Sonia, and found a couple of very big, happy tears dripping down the princess’s face. Sonia threw her hands around Chiaki’s neck, sobbing quietly into her shoulder.   
“You’re silly, Chiaki.” No teasing in her voice, just pure joy. “You should’ve told me how you felt. It wasn’t obvious to me at all!”   
“Maybe you’re the silly one.” Chiaki flatly replied, making Sonia giggle.   
“Honestly, I sometimes thought you had feelings for Hajime, even if he is in a relationship with Fuyuhiko. You’re with him nearly every day, at lunch, and I thought-” Chiaki actually snorted in response to that, laughing quietly.   
“Hajime? That’s honestly kind of… gross to think of? He might be my best friend, but I never saw him as anything more then that.” Chiaki ran her hands lightly through Sonia’s hair listlessly. “I’ve never actually been interested in girls or boys, ever. Not until I was with you.” She whispered the last sentence almost silently, making Sonia’s heart race.   
“I suppose that explains why you were always leaning against me or resting on my shoulder… to you, it was simply being with the one you loved. I thought you were simply… attached to me.” Chiaki giggled again.    
“I think I’m still pretty attached to you.” Chiaki gripped her a little tighter. “I’m like a status ailment that’s not gonna go away.”    
“As if anyone would want a cure to get rid of you!” Sonia giggled, holding her tightly. “So, I feel it is only right to do this formally, rather then leaving it behind.” Chiaki tilted her head as Sonia withdrew from her embrace, kneeling before her.   
  
“Chiaki.” Sonia murmured. Chiaki perked up a little at her name, looking out of her element. Sonia giggled a little at her reaction. “I’ve felt so strongly about you for so many months - would you like to enter a relationship with me?”  _ Immediately _ after saying that, Sonia felt like a royal fool - Chiaki descending into a fit of chuckling did not help her confidence at all.   
“All you’d need is a blue feather and it’d feel like you were asking me something very different.” Chiaki giggled. Sonia tried to ask her what she meant, but she simply blushed and said that was a much later ‘event’. Chiaki moved closer to Sonia and awkwardly lent her forehead against hers, taking Sonia’s hands into her own.   
“I thought we were dating for two months...of course, Sonia.” Chiaki stammered for a second. “I-I… love you.” And then she kissed Sonia, lightly on the nose, that big smile coming across her face.    
“Aaaaah…” Sonia made a funny noise that took Chiaki aback. “Chiaki, my love, you’re simply too cute!” Sonia threw her arms around Chiaki and kissed her on the lips, making Chikai squeak a little in surprise. Not a bad kind of surprise, though.   
  
After much cuddling and small talk, Chiaki finally got to her feet, yawning and stretching gently. Sonia followed suite, glancing at the clock.   
“My goodness! It’s nearly 4:30am!” Chiaki nodded thoughtfully - for one, Sonia wonderedif Chiaki was finally going to relent and decide it was time to sleep.  _ As if _ .   
“Oh!” Chiaki said. “We should celebrate our new progression of our relationship with more gaming-” Sonia made a fake huffing noise, striding over to her new girlfriend.   
“Miss Nanami.” Chiaki giggled a little, in her sleep deprived state, at the usage of her last name. “Now that we’re dating, I’m taking your health into my own hands! I will ensure that you gain the correct amount of sleep each night!” Sonia put her hands on her hips to underline her statement.   
“R-Really?” Chiaki said, wondering if she was actually being serious. Sonia just burst out laughing at the expression on Chiaki’s face.   
“Pfft, no! Of course, I’m going to make you get enough sleep, but I’m not going to stop you from gaming at night, or pulling an all-nighter every other evening. Or at 4:30am.” The heavy hint was dropped, and Chiaki finally relented.   
“It  __ is pretty late.” Chiaki agreed. With that, she strode over to her bed, flopping down on her back pulling the blanket over her legs. Sonia was taken aback by her abruptness, wondering if Chiaki was going to just fall asleep on the spot. At least, that’s what she did in class, sometimes.   
“...Are you coming?” Chiaki murmured from the bed. Sonia made another weird noise.

“W-What do you mean?” She replied, foolishly.   
“Well, it’s nearly morning, and… isn’t this what people who are in a relationship do?”    
“But, you see-”   
  
“ _ Sonia, what in the name of J-Dramas are you doing?”  _   
  
Without a second self-destructive thought, Sonia skipped across the room and awkwardly slid into bed next to Chiaki, switching off the light as she did so. Even in the darkness, Sonia found Chiaki nuzzling against her face almost constantly.   
“Chiaki, what on earth are you doing?”   
“...Wanted to do this for months.” She kissed Sonia lightly. “It’s weird.”   
“If you had done that months ago, I think I would’ve worked out my feeling  _ much _ faster.”   
“...We’re both pretty stupid, aren’t we.” Sonia giggled and cuddled Chiaki tightly.   
“Come on, let’s sleep, so we don’t wake up at 4pm for goodness sake.”   
“Yeah.” Chiaki yawned. “Gotta play as much as we can before class on Monday.” She pulled the blankets further over the two of them, finally getting comfy. “Goodnight, Sonia. I...um. I love you.” She promptly buried her face in Sonia’s neck, making her giggle again.   
“Yeah. Can’t wait for Cavern of Clanker.” She kissed the gamer lightly on the forehead, feeling sleep begin to take her. “I love you too.” In a few moment, light snores began to emanate from Chiaki, and Sonia was not far behind, dreaming of the many wonderful days and nights that lay before the two young lovers.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Be sure to leave a comment if you enjoyed (or did not!)!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first portion of my story! 
> 
> Next time - Chiaki and Sonia play video games all night, the princess being forced to really address her feelingsfor her best friend.


End file.
